The present invention relates generally to the field of optical transceiver devices, and more particularly to an integrated parallel optical transceiver with high bandwidth density and thermal performance.
An optical transceiver is a device that combines an optical transmitter and an optical receiver, and uses optical transmission technology to communicate between other electronic devices, versus a chip that transfers information electrically through metal wires. Typically, optical signals are passed through optical fibers between source optical transmitter and destination optical receiver. The use of fiber optic transmission technology is rapidly growing since optical signals can carry information at a higher data rate, over longer distances, than methods of transferring data using electrical conduction.
The highest performance optical transceivers send and receive information through laser diodes and photodiodes. Laser diodes convert information from an electrical format to an optical format, and photodiodes convert optical information back to an electrical format. Not only does light carry information farther and faster than its electrical counterpart, optical transceivers, cables, and connectors are becoming physically smaller, and can, in some circumstances, be physically smaller than the electrical counterparts.